Saturday, April 28, 2012

I had a boring week of good deals. I went to this huge annual sale and I was very flustered. It was on Wednesday which is something different for around here....it was also 45min. away. I went because we were out of town this weekend and weren't going to be around so I figured if the block sales were as good as they were advertised they were worth the drive. I don't know if it was because I had my kids (which I normally do anyway), or if because the streets were packed with cars, people, port-a-potties, and food vendors (or a combination of both)....but I just wasn't clicking with these sales. The prices were high, not what I was looking for, didn't feel like digging through piles, and my kids were not very patient with me....plus mobility was insane! Anyway, I did walk away with a few decent finds.

I bought this sweet set of Beatrix Potter books for a good friend of mine who just had a baby recently. Very nice books that don't even look like they've been used. $1.75

We have needed new kids cups for a very long time....found some ugly vintage ones (that actually match our ugly vintage kitchen lol). 1.00

There was a sale with DVDs 3 for $5....I'm always looking for some new viewing for longer car rides. I'm going to have to watch these....I avoided Barbie for a long time, then I watched a couple and decided they weren't all that bad, but my littles were watching one of these and I was a little weirded out by some of the things I was hearing....very 'this boy is cute' oriented...and I just don't think I'm ready for Annabelle to be thinking like that. lol

Found some decent books at a decent price. All the books were .25 with the exception of the American Girl books which were 1.00. I was disappointed with the 1.00 price on those because they had a wonderful collection of them at that sale (probably around 20 books)....and I would've swooped them all up if they had been .50-.75.....probably should've just haggled with them a little to see, but I just wasn't in the mood for haggling so I just grabbed a couple that I knew I needed to help fill in some of our collection. $3.50

United States coloring book for .25 and the One Small Square books for $1.00 a piece (we LOVE these books)! $2.25

I bought this illustrated Bible for $2.00. This is probably my favorite purchase this week. I absolutely love it. It has so many obscure stories in it along with all the popular ones......

I think what I like the most though is that on the same page of the story at the bottom of the page there is an 'About the Story' section. It gives some really great information/fun facts about the story to make it become more real/put it into perspective for the little ones. Looking forward to reading through this with my littles.

That was it.....boring.....3 1/2 streets in 3 hours (with 4 more additional streets had I wanted to continue.....I didn't). My kids were done and I didn't have the gumption to continue. However, we obtained a fun memory....my son learned that he could pee in a pringles can in the van (that was before I knew they had port-a-potties there....we did get that experience under our belts though too). He thought it was the greatest thing in the world. lol

Monday, April 23, 2012

Saturday we had a big Mom2Mom sale at our church. For those of you who don't know what that is it consists of only baby/toddler/children's items and moms rent a space to sell their stuff in (this is the fundraiser aspect of it....there is also usually $1 entry fee at the door). If you go to one of these sales you will find tables upon tables of kids items....it's pretty close to heaven for an avid garage saler. :) It is all indoors so no matter the weather it will be open. It is almost like going to 20 garage sales in one place.....which saves on gas too! I rented a couple tables and made some decent money.....I then spent some of it during the sale since there were such good items/deals there. My goal was to make enough to buy All About Reading Pre-level....and I did plus some nice garage sale money for the rest of the month and to treat Zak to some dinner as a thank you for so gladly watching the kids on Friday and Saturday during the set up and the sale.

Anyway, this may be boring to some of you since it is all clothing, but I know there are others that will enjoy it. Silas got the least just because he will be inheriting a lot of Asa's clothes. I still picked up some things that I needed for him (or wanted....). 2 long sleeve dress shirts, 4 short sleeve polos, 2 nice sweaters, 1 sweater vest.........

2 sweatshirts, 1 long sleeve tee, and 9 pairs of pjs (this is one thing that we really needed in 3T size)

Asa got the most. I was so happy that there were 4 tables with 4T stuff there because he pretty much had nothing to wear that fit him before this sale. 4 sweatshirts, 2 sweaters, 5 long sleeve dress shirts, 6 long sleeve ts....

.....4 pairs of pants, 5 short sleeve polos, 11 short sleeve/sleeveless ts, a great pair of boots.......

......4 pairs of shorts, AND 2 pairs of pjs!

Also, these really nice snow pants for next winter. :)

There were a couple tables with girls 5T clothes. Annabelle is in need of clothing too so I picked up as much for her as I could. 5 summer dresses (this girl LOVES dresses), 3 pairs of jeans, 1 pair black dress pants, 2 pairs of cute boots (one pair is an almost brand new pair of airwalks!), 1 pair of crocs.......

.....last but not least....a really nice winter coat (for $5)....it has the liner and everything. It is from TCP and is in GREAT condition. :)

All in all I am extremely happy with my finds. I got all of this for only $60!!!! Incredible....just clothed my children for the whole summer and winter. I really wouldn't have to get much more for any of them after this weekend. Garage sales are the way to go for clothing littles (and many other things). Looking forward to going to another Mom2Mom on May 5th (not selling....just shopping). If you enjoy seeing other people's garage sale finds My Life on a Taffy Pull is starting up her weekly link up again. Feel free to check it out! Happy blogging!

Monday, April 16, 2012

I've been wanting to do a laundry theme since last spring. I'm excited to say that I FINALLY got around to it. :)

These are the two books that we will be reading the most this week.I printed this letter matching game on pretty cardstock. It is from the Homeschool Share Jesse Bearlapbook.Washcloth folding.Sock matching.Hanging clothes on the clothesline. I bought the clothesline and the clothespins from the Dollar Tree. The clothes are made of felt. I got the templates and the original idea for this from Money Saving Mom.Clothespin number match from Confessions of a Homeschooler.....and finally some fun printouts from Homeschool Creations Jesse Bear pack.Looking forward to a fun filled week! Happy blogging.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

We've had a lot of fun the last couple weeks diving into the rainforest environment. We also learned a whole lot about frogs. I was pretty surprised at how much Annabelle already knew about them. We had fun using the new markers from the Easter baskets to color with this week. All the notebook elements can be found at Homeschool Share.Working on her frog tongue for the notebook.....and being silly. :)We had a good time with the lily pads. She picked one, I would read the question (ex. What are baby frogs called?), and she would give me the answer. Then I would cut out the answer and she would paste it in under the answer flap. She did really great and only missed 2!We worked on a frog craft for a couple of days. Here she is learning how to accordion fold. She picked it up no problem.I think that he turned out pretty cute. :)At the end of this week we made a toad house in our yard. We're hoping that a toad will come and live in it. I told Annabelle that it might not happen though because we have a nice creek across the street where they are more likely to live....we may have to set one up and Grandpa and Grandma's house (or cottage!). Don't ask me what she is wearing.....I couldn't tell you....lolFinished toad house. I think that it looks pretty comfy (if you're a toad).So much fun! Happy blogging.

What do you do when your kids find the party decorations that you forgot to use for your daughter's birthday party? Have a fun lunch party of course. The kids were so excited to see all of these Hello Kitty items when they opened a drawer one day. I bought them at a garage sale for $2 I think.It really just made an ordinary lunch a whole lot more fun for them.........AND they sat down and ate it quietly. I don't know about anyone else's house, but that is a HUGE accomplishment here.We even had special drinks (aka Sprite).They enjoyed this so much that I might just pick up any cheap party items like this at garage sales this year and do it every so often throughout the year. BONUS: All throw away, so no dishes.....YEA!! Happy blogging.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Happy almost a week after Easter! :) Our week was packed full of fun and craziness. I directed the Easter drama at our church this year (which happened to be the year they decided to do it two nights and make it a bigger production)....so we were at church every day/night Wed.-Sun. It was great though. The play was a success, and more importantly we got to celebrate our risen Messiah.

Dressed in their Easter finest. I love both these pictures so I had to put them both on here. Love Asa's face in this one. ...To start our Easter festivities we went to the Easter Egg hunt (Easter Egg Dash) at our church that hosts it for the community. As you can see the 0-2 year old area was nice and subdued....Not so much in the 3-5 area. lolBaskets full of eggs.After the hunt we had my parents and sweet Jude over to help us color eggs.Asa was dismayed there was a crack....Silas was delighted that there were cracks....and cracked every one of his eggs intentionally....So pretty. Question. What does one do with 2 dozen hard boiled eggs? I've already made egg salad out of a dozen of them....On Sunday after church we went to our good friends house (something we've done every year since I was 16). The kids got to have another egg hunt. Annabelle was so distraught that there were bumble bees that she only picked up 7 eggs (all pink of course).Enjoying their spoils.We really tried to get nice pictures of these three..........and these four.....they weren't having it. They did really good most of the day, but this was at the end of a LONG weekend so cooperating for a posed picture just wasn't happening. lolAnnabelle and her dear friend.Jude and his dad (my brother) Jacob. He was trying to make him laugh and look at the camera...this was the result. lolAfter that fun afternoon we came home and spent the evening together. It was a lovely end to our busy week. We did the kids baskets (which I LOVED....everything except for the crayola products came from the dollar store....drawing paper, school books, stickers to color, glowsticks, fun pencils, punching balloons....so fun. 3 baskets done for a whopping total of $35!)Excited to dig in.....All he wanted was the candy....a kid after my own heart. :)I hope that everyone else had an absolutely lovely Easter. HE is risen! Happy blogging.

About Me

I am blessed to be a stay at home mom to four beautiful children ages 6, 5, almost 4, and 6 month old. I love my 'job' and even though it can get kind of crazy at times with an infant, 2 Pre-Kers, and a 1st grader I wouldn't change it.
I love to homeschool my kids, and right now my entire focus is concentrated into that.
I love God, and I love life and have a sense of humor that helps me get through it all. I hope that what I write reflects that. Enjoy!